As they sat atop their horses to begin their hourslong pilgrimage on Saturday, many Catholic faithful reflected on the Virgin Mary, revered by Mexicans as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The riders had congregated in Dam No. 1 Woods, a Cook County forest preserve in Northbrook, near Wheeling. Though they were significantly fewer in number than in previous years — which some attributed to fear generated by the recent federal immigration raids in the Chicago area —they readied for the roughly 5-mile procession to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines.

Many came wearing thick jackets, boots and hats. One carried a framed picture of his late brother, who rode horses too; another, a banner bearing an image of Mary.

They had come, in trucks and trailers from across Chicagoland and beyond, to give thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe. “Mother to all Mexicans,” Sergio Valencia, 32, said from atop his horse, Festivo.

“Whenever you need a miracle, you ask her,” he added.

The riders brave the chill to thank Mary, said Valencia, a Catholic who grew up and still lives in Mundelein. He’s thankful for a lot this year, including his wife, his newborn son and his 2-year-old son, whom he named after his grandfather.

Many of the riders, including Valencia, came from Club Los Vaqueros Unidos, or the United Cowboys Club. And, on a pilgrimage tied to motherhood and family, riders like Valencia recalled how their relatives taught them how to ride.

In Valencia’s case it was the childhood visits to his grandfather in Mexico.

“The only way to get from the town to the mountains where he would harvest was horseback,” Valencia said. “There wasn’t any motorcycles. Cars didn’t really make it up there. So if I wanted to go with them, I needed to learn how to ride.”

His grandfather taught him. Now Valencia thinks of him whenever he rides.

At a pilgrimage on horseback for the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Alejandro Carrara holds a framed picture of his late brother, who participated in the pilgrimage. Carrara and others gathered at Dam No. 1 Woods in Northbrook on Dec. 6, 2025, preparing to ride their horses to the shrine in Des Plaines. (Shun Graves/for Pioneer Press)

This year brought the pilgrimage’s 14th annual rendition. But the origin of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back nearly five centuries.

In December 1531 an apparition of Mary appeared before Juan Diego, a peasant, in present-day Mexico City, according to Catholic tradition. She spoke to him in his native Nahuatl, and more apparitions followed. She healed Diego’s ill uncle, left her image on his cloak and revealed her title, “Guadalupe.”

She would become a potent symbol in Mexican culture and its diaspora, and for Saturday’s cavalcade pilgrims. During his papacy, St. John Paul II named her the Patroness of the Americas, according to Catholic News Agency.

“She’s the one who brings everybody here, like a good mom,” Deacon Miguel Vargas told Pioneer Press. “You have a good mom, and the sons, the daughters, they would like to be there.”

This year’s horseback pilgrimage comes nearly a week before Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Dec. 12 feast day, when crowds typically overwhelm her shrine in Des Plaines. And since Dec. 12 falls on a Friday, the pilgrimage on the Saturday before the date allowed riders to not miss work, Vargas said.

Catholic Deacon Miguel Vargas preaches Dec. 6, 2025 during a prayer service at Dam No. 1 Woods near Northbrook. It marked the starting point for Marian pilgrims in a horseback procession to the Des Plaines shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, honored by Mexican and other Catholics, for her feast day. (Shun Graves/for Pioneer Press)

Around 400 horses were in attendance, the Archdiocese of Chicago estimated. That’s hundreds fewer than in previous years.

Some people likely decided not to “risk it,” Vargas said, after the recent federal immigration operation, “Operation Midway Blitz,” targeted the Chicago region. It resulted in chaos, violence, detainments and arrests in neighborhoods like Little Village in Chicago to Elgin and northern suburbs like Evanston, Skokie and Wilmette and elsewhere.

The chilly weather may have posed another, but lesser, disincentive, Vargas added.

Snow covered the ground surrounding the open-air pavilion where Vargas preached in Spanish to the crowd on horseback. He’d spoken to them about the power of grace that Jesus offered to his disciples, and thus to the faithful, he told Pioneer Press.

Ana Pozo, her parents and two sisters offered the riders hot chocolate, coffee and tamales to combat the cold. She and her family had traveled from Carpentersville, as they’ve done for more than a decade. They’d started preparing a few days before, she said.

The riders surely bundled up. But Valencia, the Club Los Vaqueros Unidos member, said the chill still hits.

“As far as warmth goes, your body will be warm, but your coldest is at your feet,” Valencia said. “Because that’s where all the wind is hitting it. I mean, you’re not using them, so the blood rushes down there, and it gets cold.”

Alejandro Carrara rode his steed carrying a framed picture of his late brother, who had previously participated in the pilgrimage, on horseback.

Near him, Miguel Flores, from atop his horse, said he’s attended the pilgrimage since its beginning. The 52-year-old from Monee would come even if it rained.

“To visit her, basically,” he said of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/08/mexican-patroness-guadalupe-lower-after-ice-raids/